Auxiliary Field Six is the site of Camp James E. Rudder and the home of the Army's 6th Ranger Training Battalion. The 6th RTB conducts the final phase of the U.S. Army Ranger Course. The entire course is 61 days in length and is divided into three phases. Each phase is conducted at different geographical and environmental locations.
Its mission at Eglin is to expose Ranger students to a fast-paced, 18 day field training exercise. Leadership skills are taxed when conducting small unit operations in a simulated combat environment by the daily challenges students encounter including severe weather, swampy terrain, periods of hunger, mental and physical fatigue, as well as emotional stress.
Included in the field training exercise are airborne and helicopter assaults, small boat operations, river crossings and swamp crossings.
Camp James E. Rudder is one of the oldest sub-installations on Eglin (since 1951) with operating and quality of life facilities to provide lodging (Duke Field), a community center,, a tennis court, a chapel, a reptile facility, an ammunition storage area, a troop dining facility, a troop medical clinic, civil engineering shop transportation sub-motor pool, a boathouse, a repelling tower and an airborne staging area plus an air strip capable of accommodating C-130 and C-17 aircraft.
The 6th Ranger Training Battalion's parent organization is the Ranger Training Brigade located at Fort Benning, Georgia.